1 Chronicles 19:15 (BBE)And when the children of Ammon saw the flight of the Aramaeans, they themselves went in flight from Abishai, his brother, and came into the town. Then Joab came back to Jerusalem.

Chronicles I 19:15 (LXX)And the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians fled, and they also fled from before Abesai, and from before Joab his brother, and they came to the city: and Joab came to Jerusalem.

1 Chronicles 19:15 (MSG)Then the Ammonites, seeing the Arameans run for dear life, took to their heels and ran from Abishai into the city. So Joab withdrew from the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.

Divrey Hayamim Alef 19:15 (OJB)And when the Bnei Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, they likewise fled before Avishai his brother, and entered into the ir [Rabbah]. Then Yoav returned to Yerushalayim.

1 Chronicles 19:15 (WYC)And the sons of Ammon saw, that (the) Syrians had fled, and they [also] fled from Abishai, his brother, and entered into the city; and Joab turned again into Jerusalem. (And when the Ammonites saw that the Syrians had fled, then they also fled from his brother Abishai, and entered into the city; and then Joab returned to Jerusalem.)

Commentaries For 1 Chronicles 19

( 2 Samuel 8 ) safety of sinners consists in submitting to the Lord, seeking peace with him, and becoming his servants. Let us assist each other in a good cause; but let us fear lest, while made instruments of good to others, we should come short of salvation, through unbelief and sin.

1. after this--This phrase seems to indicate that the incident now to be related took place immediately, or soon after the wars described in the preceding chapter. But the chronological order is loosely observed, and the only just inference that can be drawn from the use of this phrase is, that some farther account is to be given of the wars against the Syrians. Nahash the king of the children of Ammon died--There had subsisted a very friendly relation between David and him, begun during the exile of the former, and cemented, doubtless, by their common hostility to Saul.

4, 5. shaved them--not completely, but only the half of their face. This disrespect to the beard, and indecent exposure of their persons by their clothes being cut off from the girdle downwards, was the grossest indignity to which Jews, in common with all Orientals, could be subjected. No wonder that the men were ashamed to appear in public--that the king recommended them to remain in seclusion on the border till the mark of their disgrace had disappeared--and then they might, with propriety, return to the court.

6. when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David--One universal feeling of indignation was roused throughout Israel, and all classes supported the king in his determination to avenge this unprovoked insult on the Hebrew nation. Hanun . . . sent a thousand talents of silver--a sum equal to about $2,000,000 to procure the services of foreign mercenaries. chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia . . . Syria-maachah, and . . . Zobah--The Mesopotamian troops did not arrive during this campaign ( 1 Chronicles 19:16 ). Syria-maachah lay on the north of the possessions of the trans-jordanic Israelites, near Gilead.

7. So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots--Hebrew, "riders," or "cavalry," accustomed to fight either on horseback or in chariots, and occasionally on foot. Accepting this as the true rendering, the number of hired auxiliaries mentioned in this passage agrees exactly with the statement in 2 Samuel 10:6 : twenty thousand (from Syria), twelve thousand (from Tob), equal to thirty-two thousand, and one thousand with the king of Maachah.

8. David . . . sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men--All the forces of Israel, including the great military orders, were engaged in this war.

9-15. children of Ammon . . . put the battle in array before the gate of the city--that is, outside the walls of Medeba, a frontier town on the Arnon. the kings that were come were by themselves in the field--The Israelitish army being thus beset by the Ammonites in front, and by the Syrian auxiliaries behind, Joab resolved to attack the latter (the more numerous and formidable host), while he directed his brother Abishai, with a suitable detachment, to attack the Ammonites. Joab's address before the engagement displays the faith and piety that became a commander of the Hebrew people. The mercenaries being defeated, the courage of the Ammonites failed; so that, taking flight, they entrenched themselves within the fortified walls.

18. David slew of the Syrians seven thousand men--(Compare 2 Samuel 10:18 , which has seven hundred chariots). Either the text in one of the books is corrupt [KEIL, DAVIDSON], or the accounts must be combined, giving this result--seven thousand horsemen, seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen [KENNICOTT, HOUBIGANT, CALMET].